By Emma del Sol
The ‘Sters offense lacked power and success as they lost a close one to the Conejo Oaks 3-1. The ‘Sters were unable to rally and left seven men on base in tonight’s ball game. Starting pitcher, Jon Duplantier, gave up three runs on five hits and four walks, but was able to strike out four, giving him the CCL lead in strikeouts with 60.
The Oaks struck first in the third scoring one run off of a hit and an error. Second baseman, Rick Nomura, was able to reach base due to an error by ‘Sters shortstop Steven Reveles. Cody Lenahan singled up the middle putting the Oaks up 1-0.
The ‘Sters responded in the bottom of the fourth. Granger Studdard led off the inning with a four-pitch walk and advanced to second off of a single by Jeremy Montalbano. Montalbano now has a seven game hitting streak. A couple of pitches later a balk was called on Oak’s pitcher Michael Gomez, giving the ‘Sters runners on second and third with no outs. Bret Boswell then had a sac fly to centerfield scoring Studdard and tying the game up at 1.
The Oaks broke the game wide open in the top of the sixth. The Oaks were able to get two runs off of a couple of singles and an error by the Forester’s shortstop. The Oaks never looked back after those two runs and won their first league game against the ‘Sters. The ‘Sters had won in the previous five meetings.
In the bottom of the ninth, pinch hitter Ford Stainback extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a double off the left field foul line.
Dave Graybill came in to relieve Jon Duplantier and pitched three shutout innings; striking out three, giving up two hits, and walking zero.
The ‘Sters are back in action tomorrow night at 5pm as they take on archrival SLO Blues in their final meeting of the year.
